Challenge - "Build" me a computer

Hi, I'm looking to buy a system but unfortunately im over 4 years out of date as far as knowledge goes.

What I need is a few possible specifications based on your experience and expertise in the field.

My conditions are:

1.Budget of £550 give or take a few tenners
2.Primarily for gaming. I want it to be able to cope with today's games running at full(ish) spec.
3.Future proof for 2/3 years. I don't mind a drop in performance during this time but I dont want to be faced with applications that I can't run to a reasonable standard due to obsolete hardware etc.
4.I am after a base unit and nothing more. A monitor is added expense for an item I don't need (so most of the major suppliers are out due to package systems)

Buying would be preferable but I can't seem to find a good supplier that guarantees good components and avoids excessive assembly charges. With this in mind I am willing to go down the building road if necessary.

Feel free to tell me I am being a bit too ambitious for my budget. I am willing to compromise on performance but I can't budge on the price.

Hopefully you can come up with something that meets my requirements but doesnt subscribe me to new technology which I might not need or won't know how to get the most of.

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If the computer is to last you 2 to 3 years but still be able to play games, some of it will have to be top of the range now, which is expensive. With advances in computing, its hard to say if what you/we buy now will still be worthwhile after that length of time, but here goes

In general, what I`d recommend is: (will let other ppl argue over prices and which companies/ models to get,my prices are rough, if you know where to look))

NForce4 Ultra/SLI motherboard £80 for SLI
AMD Venice or San Diego CPU £140-190
2x512MB PC3200 memory with 2-2-2-5 timings (£100 max, less for looser timings)
NVidia 7800GT GPU (ATI equivalent due out in a few weeks, there`ll be a price cut on NVidias part then) (£300)
OR 2x6800 GPU, which will work out around the same and be slightly better I think (2x£150)
Tagan 530W PSU (65)
200GB HDD (£70)
A case (£40)
a DVD-ROM and CD-ROM RW all in one (£25)

That comes to £700-ish, which is overbudget SO.... could try having just an
NF4 Ultra... (£70)
6800Ultra (£240)
Tagan 480W PSU (£50)
same disk, same case and processor
which gives: £<600 ish

Theres some rough pricing for you...it can be done for the money you have

Take a look at my "New Build Suggestions" thread - the more expensive of the two computers i'm building is £700 for the base unit... and it's a bottom of the range AMD 64 Socket 939 chip, a gig of Value memory and a Radeon X800 GT - the second lowest performer of the X800 series of graphics cards.

Whatever you do, do NOT skimp out on the more important things like PSU, Motherboard etc in favour of a slightly better whatever. Its not worth it.

Also, don't be misled by companies claiming that their systems are the latest gaming machines. More often than not theyre gonna be crap.

I am willing to compromise on performance but I can't budge on the price.

Click to expand...

Ok I might budge slightly on the price (somebody give me a hat!) and probably lower my expectations slightly regarding performance. I'll try and come up with a detailed specification using Kenny's guide and Chris' "upper" system offer and post it up here for scrutiny. Any advice on suppliers?

There systems are expensive but highly recommended by gamers and the like.

I was looking for similar perfomance that your after but at the end of the day i had to compromise on a few things. I went for a self build myself and I think I saved a bit of money when compared to an out of the box machine. And the satisfaction I got from doing it myself was well worth it.

I chose www.ebuyer.com to get my parts. Cheapest I could find for a lot of the parts. But be warned I had a bit of trouble with the delivery and getting everything at the same time in order to start the build.
Would still defo use them again and have done. But when you need all the parts to get started it get a bit frustrating so I had to get some of the parts from elsewhere.

I'm surprised at you Chris ... I think it may be on your 'whish list' but if you look a little deaper you'll see one big herdle is in it's CPU ... name me one game that knows what to do with x2 CPU ... not forgetting that the x2 is actually a slower CPU than a single core of the same speed.

If I was looking for a 'nice cheap' server for my company I would certainly have a look at x2 CPU ...

Nope, IMHO ... it aint the best gamming machine ... just another company pushing the numbers game. And at a silly price.

How about this, £550.90 inc VAT (now thats damn close to the budget!!). I cheated though and used the config tool here. It doesnt include an Operating System though but its built for you!! the only time I built a PC the Floppy Drive burst into flames! so much for low voltage...

Thanks for keeping the suggestions coming in. Definately decided to build now so I've started to search the various suppliers for the components suggested. With this in mind, what benefits are gained from getting specifically crucial memory or a samsung hard drive? Are the benefits sufficiently worth the cost if you are working on limited funds?

Also, how does SLI work in practice? Would it be possible for me to buy one graphics card now (average performance) and then double that power when I can afford to buy another one? Is it a plug and play type set-up?

Also, how does SLI work in practice? Would it be possible for me to buy one graphics card now (average performance) and then double that power when I can afford to buy another one? Is it a plug and play type set-up?

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